LeBron James makes Miami vs. Magic tickets expensive

(Marc Serota, Getty Images )

August 12, 2010|By Josh Robbins, Orlando Sentinel

You can still buy tickets to attend the Orlando Magic's regular-season road opener Oct. 29 against the Miami Heat, but it likely will cost you a hefty sum thanks to the presence of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Heat roster.

A spokesperson for the online marketplace StubHub said tickets to the game — the Heat's regular-season home opener — already are selling for an average price of $760.

There will be additional opportunities for some fans to buy cheaper Heat-Magic tickets for the Oct. 29 game in the days and weeks ahead.

The Heat will put 10-game mini-plans on sale Monday for seats in AmericanAirlines Arena's endzone balconies, though priority will be given to people on the team's "Heat Hopefuls Waiting List." The mini-plans will allow fans to choose 10 games of their choice, but prices differ based on the opponent. The mini-plan's tickets for the Oct. 29 game, for example, will cost $125 apiece.

Heat single-game tickets will go on sale in late September.

In the meantime, Miami's "Big Three" of James, Wade and Bosh is creating a high demand for seats.

StubHub is reporting that its two other highest selling NBA games for the upcoming regular season also involve the Heat.

Tickets for Miami's Oct. 26 game against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden — the regular-season opener for both teams — are selling on StubHub for an average of $411, the spokesperson said. Tickets to the Heat's Christmas Day game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center are selling for an average of $479.

The StubHub spokesperson says the online marketplace's hottest preseason ticket is for the Magic-Heat game on Oct. 22 in Tampa at the St. Pete Times Forum, with tickets selling for $101 on average.

Tickets to that exhibition also were still available through Ticketmaster as of this morning.

The Sun Sentinel contributed to this report. Read Josh Robbins' blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and e-mail him at jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.